Tough Finish For Area Netters

The curtain came down on the 2012 season for area netters as Wausaukee and Niagara were the final two teams to fall in the WIAA playoffs.

Both squads advanced to the Division 4 regional finals before being swept by Northern Lakes Conference powers. Wausaukee was defeated by Florence and Niagara had all kinds of trouble against top seed Wabeno.

The results werent any better in Division 3 as Coleman and Peshtigo were eliminated in the semifinals Thursday. Champions of the M-O Conference, Coleman was swept by Menasha St. Mary and Peshtigo against Weyauwega-Fremont.

Wausaukee Levels

Laona, Advances

In Division 4 Play

The Rangers dismantled Laona 25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22 Thursday to stay alive along the D-4 tournament trail. Despite the third-game hiccup, Wausaukee didnt at any point in the match seem to be in trouble, using its speed and smarts to find open spots on the court for points.

As usual, Kaylor DeLaet had a strong performance setting up her teammates with 32 assists while also chipping in three blocks and an ace; Sara Wickman turned in 18 kills and an assist; Crysta Clark added three aces an assist and two kills; Charleen Fick had two aces, seven blocks and two assists; Lauren Edlbeck tallied two aces, seven kills and a block while teammate Stevie Oldenberg notched nine kills, three blocks and a pair of assists.

Rangers Swept In

Finals By Florence

Wausaukee showed flashes of dominance Saturday in the regional title matchup against Florence but couldnt quite put it all together as they were eliminated from the post-season 16-25, 18-25, 25-27.

If one were to watch only the Rangers highlights of the first two games of the match, one would probably guess the final scores of those sets to look like the result of the third-very close.

In the first game, Wausaukee found itself down 13-22, but after a long point culminated in a vicious kill from Stevie Oldenburg made the readout on the scoreboard look out of place. The Rangers pushed the score of the opener to as close as 16-24 but, after another long, hard fought battle for a crucial point, Lauren Edlbeck tried to hammer a kill through the Bobcats front line, only to have it deflected by a Florence player and sailed out of bounds and unplayable on the Wausaukee side of the net.

The second set of the match went much the same way. Through the first 15 points, the Rangers found themselves even on the scoreboard with Florence six times. With Florence up 5-6, Edlbeck served up a well-placed assist to Crysta Clark, who put it away with authority to even the score. At 6-7, it was Oldenburg with a crafty soft shot to open court for the 7-7 mark. Kaylor Delaet had a block moments later for 8-8 while Sara Wickman provided the kill shot that evened things at nine.

Ultimately 18-23 was as close as Wausaukee would get in that second game before eventually dropping the final point on a powerful kill from Florences Heather Marin.

We knew we were facing a real strong team tonight, said Wausaukee head coach Tom Pleyte. They serve well and they dont make mistakes. The momentum shifts in the match indicate that we were not getting crushed by them though. We had some runs that came up short but we also didnt roll over and die.

After starting the third down 1-5, the Rangers rallied, thanks to kills from Wickman and Clark as well as an ace by Delaet to take a much deserved lead at 6-5.

But the Bobcats, behind the powerful serving of Shannon Drexler, who turned in a 100 percent service game that included six aces, regained their form and jumped out to a 12-6 advantage over the home team.

But once again, the Rangers got themselves off the ropes and began to apply some pressure to Florence. Edlbeck was a big part of the mid-game surge, playing all over the floor and getting herself in the mix on several key plays as Wausaukee battled its way back to 13-14, at which point Clark turned in a timely ace to again knot things up.

Later, with her team down 19-21, Wickman had a string of three-straight kills, all of which came in dramatic fashion to give Wausaukee a late lead at 22-21. Two points later, she made it 24-21 with another soft shot that caught the Bobcats front line completely off guard. But a couple of miscues from the Rangers, coupled with desperately hard play by Florence, saw the home team lose its lead and then the set.

It was a great campaign, Pleyte said of his squads effort over the 2012 season. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us but I think we handled ourselves quite well. We certainly finished better than we started the year. As a coach, thats all I can ask for.

Badgers Bounce

Suring In 3 Games

The Niagara Badgers took care of business against Suring in the semifinals by way of a three-game victory 25-13, 25-10, 26-24.

Leading the way for the Badgers was Maryellen Wagner with two assists, 21 digs, three blocks and 18 kills; Shelby Borchardt added 32 digs and six kills; Shanna Nordell had 22 digs and nine kills; Abbey Bagnieschi had 21 assists and three digs while Danielle Bennett chipped in with 13 assists, two digs and a kill.

The Eagles were paced by Kelsey Schools 11 digs, 12 assists, a block and three kills; Stormy Gerndt had two digs, a block and four kills; Calley VanBellinger added 12 digs, two assists, a block and 10 kills; Jacquelyn Lenz picked up 14 digs and two aces while Breanna Tienor notched three digs, six assists and an ace.

Niagara No Match For

Wabeno In D-4 Finals

Looking to keep its playoff hopes alive, the Badgers got the boot from top seed Wabeno (32-2) in the D-4 semifinals Saturday 25-13, 25-14 and 25-17.

-Division 3 Results-

Coleman Stopped By

St. Marys In Semis

The Cougars have been rolling over M-O opponents all season long. They 're not used to losing. To anyone. And especially not in three straight games.

So its understandable if you happen to bump into one of the Coleman netters around town this week and she has a confused look on her face.

The Cougars were bounced out of the post-season by way of a 23-25, 20-25, 12-25 loss to St. Marys Central.

We ran into a team that was all around strong, said Coleman head coach Caitlyn Dowden. In the first two sets, we hung with them very well, once we caught up to the speed of the match. They were a very smart team and they kept us on our toes all night.

Stats leaders for the Cougars included Lindsey Kerr with 17 assists; Abby Bieber had 10 digs while teammate Sammy Schaal had nine; Makenzie Sadowski had a pair of aces; Heather Zeitler, Bieber and Sadowski each had five kills while Raena Chucka picked up a pair of blocks.

The girls left it all on the floor, Said coach Dowden. I truly couldnt have asked for more.

Peshtigo Falls In

D-3 Semifinals

The Bulldogs ran into stiff competition in second round playoff action Thursday, falling in three straight, 25-10, 25-9, 25-15 to Weyauwega-Fremont.

It was a very tough night for us, said Bulldogs head coach Lynn Kostreva. We were a step behind on each play against a very good team.

Peshtigo was led by 11 assists, five digs and an ace from Allie Morris, Taylor Romenesko eight digs and five kills, Shannen Ganter 10 digs, an assist and four kills; Hannah Romenesko three digs and three kills while teammate Nicole Motkowski added three digs, 10 assists and a pair of kills.